Although this game is great, I would recommend getting mount and blade: warband instead of this. It's basically the same game but with alot better features. Just my opinion.

I am actually a little bit relieved that I had the M&B series on CD first, before playing on steam, or I would most likely have over 500-1000 hours spread across the 3 games. I absolutely love this series!

Warband is easily the best of the 3 available, with superior mod support, however, the orignal M&B is still very good. If you are able to choose, definitely go with Warhand, which is basically a more fleshed-out version of the original game. While playing the original, I did notice that some of my favorite mods did not get ported over to Warband, so make sure you check out the mod community for M&B to see if anything there interests you.

Much of the aesthetics, controls, and gameplay mirror Warband, so here is my review.

There usually is only a few dollars difference between M&B and Warband whenever they both go on sale, so be sure to pick up Warband if possible (or both, if you like collecting).

Despite the more superior Warband being available, this is still a great game, and you should try it out if you are interested in sampling the series.

Cheers,
DJSF @DJSF's Rogue Reviews

It has that awkward indie game charm. Vanilla gets old quick but the mods are absolutely fantastic. Modding is pretty simple and the game is as modable as Skyrim, possibly even more. Combat is amazing and is the most realistic sword play I have ever seen besides Mount&Blade Warband.

I hesitated to buy this game but all for nought. Once I started playing I couldn't stop. I felt a real sensation of rivalry against the Rhodoks and Nords and competition with my fellow Khergit Lords. I still have a lot to go but I feel this is a great investment and would recommend to any one if they're looking for a sandbox RPG with lots of mods. I haven't even touched those and I'm juiced to play them!

Not really worth it. Get M&B Warband instead. It has everything this one has and more.

The game that started it all. Warband is effectively a more polished and patched version of Mount & Blade with multiplayer enabled; but this game features some exclusive mods that make it still worth playing.

I dropped a lot of hours into this game, despite its flaws. But don't buy this, buy M&B Warband. It's exactly the same, but with better mechanics, animations, combat, and more options. There's nothing in M&B that isn't also in M&B Warband, and the improvements are huge.

That said, this game is fantastic and I enjoyed every minute of the 300 hours I spent playing it. I would give it a 9 for 10 (there are flaws in it, after all). Its my favorite game out there, with the very notable exception of Warband.

So don't buy this game. But definitely buy Warband.

Very cool RPGsimmanagement with a fun combat system. Very dated graphics (looks like a little lower res Oblivion). This game reminds me of a choose-your-own-adventure or an old DOS text RPG with a mix of open world and party management and a very unique, great combat style. It's very fun to play.

This is probably the smoothest running game I have ever played. You go from menu to in-game to overworld in a fraction of a second. No loading whatsoever.

Great medival era experience. Sadly no MP for this one (Get M&B Warband if you want a multiplayer M&B game. I highly recommend buying the complete M&B pack, because you get the original M&B, Warband, w/ Fire & Sword, and Napoleonic Wars DLC for Warband (10/10 best dlc ever).

Pros:
Great command system
Massive battles!!!
Great melee combat
Easliy moddable
Just about any computer can run it
In-depth archery and throwing weapons
Good variety in weapons
Open world
Very Replayable
Good trade system
Excellent
No QTEs!!! (Other than talking to people)
Generally ok AI


Cons:
Bad Graphics (Understandable considering the game is old, just saying though)
Non-voiced characters
Polearms are super easy to use compared to daggers and swords




Overall, M&B is great. It has few flaws, and the few it suffers from are minor. I recommend buying the Complete Pack to get a better M&B experience.

If you love medivial times and commanding units in a third person command setting, then this is the game for you. Kings, queens, lords, ladies, and you form your own story!

This game is AWESOME!!!!

I created a character whose father was a thief. After he disappeared whilst I was a wee lass, some tradesman took me in and taught me stuff. I then went on to poach animals for a profit... (This was all in the character creation process!)

(Game starts) I rode my horse off into that direction (me thinks West) and came across 5 Looters. They weren't very nice. I wanted more of a challenge with my first real combat, so I threw all of my throwing knives away! (I actually missed. very hard. damn hard.) I spent the next 25 minutes ( I kid you not) trying to run over the little buggers with my horse. Yay!!!

My review, or rather my suggestion: Use a freakin' sword!!! Add to your character at a later time the ability/usage of throwing stuff.... *whew*

The game is.. Good. It does not hold a candle, however, to Warband, except when it comes to mods. Mount and Blade has more, and better mods alongside it, allowing for new experiences you can't get in Warband. If, however, you want true Vanilla gameplay, Warband is your better choice. 8/10

Got game. Upped difficulty to 50%. Died. Downed to 30%.
Day 1. Army is up to 30, no one will fight me now, time to kill caravans. First, lets get a cow.
Day 2. Stole a cow, Lords chasing me around this mountain, we are the same speed, I cant escape.
Day 3. Surrendered, he had 100 more soldiers than me, I escaped, apparently kept my pony, lost my armor. Then I got murdered by villagers from the town I had stolen the cow from
Day 4. Dead
Day 5. I didnt come back to life, quit reading
10/10 would be a prisoner walrus again.

please listen to the title of this game, if you ride on your horse with a sword you can win everything

Way Better Than With Fire and Sword But Worse Than Warband! Still A Great Game Though!

Mount & Blade is still considerably fun for a game so old now. After I went through Bungie's Destiny I came back to this Midieval knight simulator. The base game is pretty fun but what made this game for me were the mods made by the community. If you have this game I would recommend getting the Star Wars Conquest mod if you've burned yourself out on the base game or just want to explore in a galaxy far, far away.

Mount&Blade and Mount&Blade: Warband are two of my favourite games of all time, one of the best experinces you will ever have hands down, I would say the same for Mount&Blade: FIre&Sword, but it is just not as appealing due to the time frame, with gunpowder been introduced.

But I would highly suggest getting all three, due to there pure enjoyment, Fantastic games, and it's one of those games you can really get into and feel like you have an importiant role to play.

The game by itself is utterly amazing, but has a huge adventige due to the talented modders that make equally amazing changes to the game to give you more challangers, and more roles, and quests and much more.



The Game-The Modders, they both go hand in hand to give you the most intense and extroadinary vibe you will ever experince.

Do not overlook my playtime, for I played this game long before i ever got it on Steam, I would say i have easly put over 100+ hours into this game alone, not counting The other two :).

( My current steam play time of this game is not correct towards my overall play time of it, which is conciderably longer due to owning it off of steam. )

If you like RPGs with a mix of RTS, this game is for you.
I innitially did not have high expectations before I bought it [not on steam], long ago. But this game grew on me quite quickly.

PROs:
- RPG elements like you being the main character that can shape the game, depending on how you go about it. What kingdom you join, what do you do within it, ect. Stats and leveling up, equipment, politics, companions.
- Decent character facial customisation for characters (atleast as far as the proportions of the head/face are concerned) decent amount of hair and facial hair (males) choices. (This is BASE game customisation. Why do I mention that? Well... )
- High modability - There is lots of player made content that can be downloaded and applied to the game, either changing your main game in small ways, or providing you with an entirely new campaign by playing overhails (aka new natives/scenarios) which generally are packed full of content. The content may range from simply newly aranged maps, new kingdoms, ect. To including brand new character models, even races for very few of the mods out there. Lots of new weapons/armors/units.
- Decent amount of battle terrains (The area in which you fight with your army in real time when you engage a foe. The way it looks. ) These can be pretty cool in some mods out there.


CONs:
- Even if you own beast PC, in large battles, the game is prone to crash some times. And if you don't save regularly.. that can set you back pretty far.
- Castle sieges are pretty basic, they are down to battles of attrition. The person with the most and most experienced bodies will be the one to win.
- Factions with mostly mounted units are unfairly strong in comparison to factions with primarily unmounted units. In the base game, that means the Khergits. You will learn to hate them, pretty fast. (Luckily this can be counter-acted with the use of mods, and some overhauls [aka non base game maps] have scripts and options in place to allow foot soldiers with spears to combat mounted soldiers.
- Spear bracing. On the topic of mounted units... those that have spears, will eventually go into a state known as spear bracing, which will do massive damage to any enemy unit the spear comes in contact with. Whilst this can be very good for hit and run attacks for the player as a mounted combatant, it can be pretty bad for the player's units, or the player themselves if they are faced with alot of mounted opponents, who will very likely get a guaranteed one hit KO using that, even on heavily armored units some times.
- Multiplayer is mostly very bad, or if I have to be kind.. bland, repetative and pointless. ( Though there are some mods out there that are ONLY playable in multiplayer. I have not tested any of them yet, due to the fact that this game is my jam where single-player is concerned. But I have read good things about some of them. Unfortunatley most of them don't last long, too. Teams often abandon them and stop hosting.)


OTHER STUFF: (That is neither a pro nor a con)
- Combat is directional. With good enough timing and mouse movement, aswell as footwork, you will likely be able to dispatch any opponent, even if they are more well armed or stronger than you. Parrying is also directional, meaning that with good enough choice of direction in which to parry, you can defend yourself with your two handed/one handed weapon and signifficantly reduce the damage you endure. Shields are something you should always have on you. They will take the brunt of ranged attacks against your back when they ARE on your back, will block ranged attacks and melee attacks very efficiently when used in offhand, but will eventually break. Luckily...
- You can pick up weapons and shields dropped on the ground by dead units. Its a bit tricky and not recommended to try if there are enemies around you, but if you are out of arrows, and there's a dead archer nearby who's arrow quiver is somewhere around him, you can take it. If your shield is broken, you can pick up some dead footman's shield instead. These are NOT kept after the battle is over, your original equipment is the one that will be equipped on you once it is. So don't be afraid of loosing weaponry.
- You can carry weapons in your inventory that you can switch to at the stash in the starting location of your army in a battle, incase you are facing a foe that your current loadout is not effective to deal with.
- Armies march on their stomach. Inventory Management will become a skill that will be valuable if you plan to have a large army, so that you can carry a bunch of food with you.
- You will hate loosing experienced soldiers. And sometimes during battle, weak pawns will take down your fully upgraded troops. This will mostly kill them, which is why investing in the skill "Surgeon" will become a must, as each point adds a 4% chance that a party member, when struck down, will be knocked unconscious instead of dying. This chance is added to a base chance of 25%. At level 10 of the skill, thats 40% + 25% = 65%. Meaning that you will not have to sacrifice experienced troops needlessly.


There is .. much more I could say about this game, but I will have to simply say...
BUY IT.
Even at retail price its worth it. As always, buying when its discounted is the wisest choice, and luckily M&B gets discounted every now and then.
But I should note, I wrote this review, before writing one of the next game in the series, which is M&B: Warband. It improves upon what is already there, and I recommend you get it instead if you only want one game. I got this one so that I could play mods that are restricted to it, and not playable on warband. You'll likely find modded scenarios to be the most enjoyable aspect very soon, and that will make getting this worth it.

My final score? Solid 9/10, not counting the bugs that *can* occur and the minor nuissances about some ingame aspects. With those in mind, it would be more like a 8/10.

Any game wherein you can punch a fully armoured knight until he's knocked out, and then sell hiim into slavery, is a good game in my book.

Parts of this game (the worldmap) have the feel of that old flash game where you were a fish that only got bigger by eating smaller fish, avoiding larger predators on the landscape.
Parts of this game (party management/dialogue/quests) feels like a RPG like Skyrim.
Parts of this game (combat, especially on horseback) have the fast-twitch satisfaction of a shooter or a sports game.

Solid game. Especially for >$10.